It wasn't pretty, but five-time Canadian champion Joannie Rochette got the job done at Skate Canada Saturday night in front of a near-capacity crowd.

Rochette landed only three really clean triples (managing to stay upright on a fourth, without putting a foot down) and left a lot of marks on the table. But she won the gold medal with a total of 182.90 points, far off Kim Yu-Na's pace, when she won the Grand Prix in Paris with 210.03 points.

Still, Rochette's score wasn't far off Kim's score in her troubled Skate America win last week. Kim scored 187.98 although she did not win the long program. Rochette did on Saturday night.

Rochette's final score was still better than the point totals that won Miki Ando of Japan the Cup of Russia (171.93), Akiko Suzuki of Japan the Cup of China (176.93), and Ando, the NHK Trophy in Japan (162.55).

Rochette admitted that the long program on Saturday night was physically challenging for her to do. She earned 112.90 points for it, but Kim's record score is 133.95 points.

"I think my last minute missed a bit of power,'' said the 23-year-old from Ile-Dupas, Que., "I need to work on that. There's no reason for me to single a triple Salchow at the end like that.''

Rochette blamed it on fatigue, a physical problem.

And she also just didn't feel right on the warm-up. "I tried to fight for everything,'' she said. "But I'm really proud to not have fallen on that triple loop.''

She saw it on the replay and said it leaned quite far sideways. Like a cat, she stayed upright.

If Rochette was not at her best, the rest were worse.

Reigning European champion, Laura Lepisto of Finland, finished second in the free skate with a modest program and took the bronze medal overall with 158.52 points.

Alissa Czisny, the reigning U. S. champion, won the silver medal but finished only fourth in the free skate after falling twice and under-rotating three jumps. She finished with a total score of 163.53 points, still 19.37 points behind Rochette.

The 2008 U.S. champion Mirai Nagasu finished third in the free skate but she underrotated a couple of jumps and had the wrong edge going into both of her Lutzes.

Akiko Suzuki of Japan, who won Cup of China, finished fifth overall on Saturday, but she under-rotated a triple toe loop and entered both of her triple Lutzes on the wrong edge. She stayed upright.

Caroline Zhang, a world junior champion who seemed at one time to be the next big U.S. hope, finished only eighth after falling twice, under rotating two jumps, hitting the wrong edge on a triple Lutz, and including too many combinations. The final one, a triple loop - double toe loop - double loop earned her no points at all.

To make matters worse for her, it appears that judges are now starting to give presentation marks that more closely reflect what they see on the ice. One judge gave Zhang a 2.50 (out of 10) for transitional moves, a 3.50 for choreography, a 3.75 for interpretation. This judge wasn't alone.

Former Canadian champion Cynthia Phaneuf of Contrecoeur, Que., - who won Skate Canada five years ago - fell four times and finished ninth of 11 in the long program, and seventh overall.

Canadian bronze medalist Amelie Lacoste of Delson, Que., finished sixth after falling on a triple Salchow (which she under rotated).

In contrast to all of this, Rochette was a star. Still, it wasn't her finest moment.

"There were a few wobbles,'' she said. "It was one of those programs where I needed to fight from beginning to end. It's good to know that I have it in me, but obviously I need to go home and work this program a lot to make sure that every element and every transition is right on, and all my levels...Overall I think this one is a good one to have in the bag before the Olympic Games.''

Lepisto wasn't happy with her performance, although she said it was better than at the NHK Trophy in Japan two weeks ago when she finished fifth. "It wasn't very easy to recover from that,'' she said, admitting to jet lag from Japan and jet lag coming to Canada.

"It hasn't been an easy start to this season,'' she said. "But I am in good condition.''
With the win, Rochette earned a trip to the Grand Prix Final in Tokyo in two weeks and will compete against Kim, Ando, Suzuki, Ashley Wagner of United States, and Alena Leonova of Russia.

Rochette said after her performance on Saturday night, she's glad she'll have another chance to compete internationally before the Olympics.